Development
Hvetshran development is the process of growing to maturity of a Hvetshran. Since they have quite a different body structure than a human being, a Hvetshran does not develop and grow up the same way a human would. Prenatal A Hvetshran pregnancy takes a little over seven months, six to nine weeks shorter than a human pregnancy. This means that the fœtus on the one hand develops faster, but also that at the time of birth, the Hvetshran baby is not as developed as a newborn human child. Birth and first year The birth of a Hvetshran is something particular. The little creature is very small and light and entirely covered in a kind of thick black slime. They are usually between 30cm (1ft.) and 40cm (1ft. 3in.) and weigh between 1.3kg (3lbs.) and 1.8kg (4lbs.). Slight variations are possible. Hvetshran parents leave the black slime on that the babies are covered in. This is because Hvetshran babies can get used to the climate in the first hour of their life more slowly but, also because the little creatures get their primary immune system and nutritive substance by eating it. At birth, prototypical difference between Hvetshran and human kind are already visible. Babies have, apart from their lower weight and shorter length, a flexible black snake-like skin and white eyes. Their hands and feet already have little claws on them, even though these are still soft. In their mouth, they have a dark red tongue and little sharp teeth of about 1/4cm (0.1"). They carry a tail of 15~18cm (6~7in.) of length and 1/3cm (0.15") of diameter with a black colour and a structure similar of that of a rat’s tail. As for their instinctive habits, Hvetshran are remarkable as well. They eat only liquid and plasmatic food, just like human babies. Their food exists of: their own black birth slime, milk, blood, mashed soft and small pieces of flesh. Hvetshran babies are unable to make any sound for their first two months. They make emotions clear through the means of gestures. Basic communication exists of: freezing when lonely (usually: playful); scratching things when pooped or peed; grabbing, breaking and chewing random (inedible) things when hungry. In the first year of their evolution, Hvetshran start to make sounds. When they are between eight and ten weeks old, they master the ability of producing little high-pitched screams. Their voice will, just like that of humans, go through evolution and become lower pitched later on. Between their ninth and fifteenth week, they get to control their first growls. A few weeks later, in the period of about their thirteenth to sixteenth week, they become able to make a sound that is very similar to the purring of a cat. These sounds are simple and are used as form of proto-communication. Hvetshran also change a lot physically. Their length doubles, between 2’ and 2’5”. Their weight increases to about 3-4kg (7-8lbs.). Their teeth grow from 1/4cm (0.1") to 1/3cm (0.15"). Their tail becomes more solid and grows to 25cm (10in.) in length and 1/2cm (0.2") in diameter. Their eyes change from white to a fixed colour and will remain this colour often for the rest of their life. For the majority of Hvetshran, this colour is either red (45%) or dark yellow (28%). Hvetshran skin texture changes with their mood: it remains their scaled Hvetshran skin when anxious, but changes a little more human when the creature feels comfortable. Through their first year, there are several new things they can drink and consume. As for fluids, they start drinking water. As for solids, it depends on how fast their teeth grow. They start eating bigger pieces of soft flesh, fish, soft vegetables and fruit. They also manage to get more control over their body, gaining control of their tongue muscles, curling their tail slightly by own will, crawling and moving their fingers and toes somewhat independently. Early age (until 5 years) The first stage in the growth of the Hvetshran demons is when they are under the age of five years old. During these years, they learn how to express themselves by basic language, hunt and control their body (tail, tongue, motoric abilities). They also grow a lot and go through a rather big physical evolution. Throughout this phase, their scales also gradually change colour, often towards the same shade of skin that their parents or grandparents have. In the second year of their life, Hvetshran grow at the same rate of a human infant (although they are still behind). Their teeth grow to 0.2” and their tail gets a length of a little over one foot. The Hvetshran toddlers use solid objects to sharpen their teeth and claws. From their tail, grow little bendable pins. At this point, they will basically drink and eat anything that they get fed. They are also able to pronounce various vowels and use them to express different moods. Their growls and screams also get more intonation and are used to get things from their parents and other Hvetshran. Hvetshran continue sharping their claws and teeth in their third year. Their growing speed continues and their tail grows to about 1’3” or 1’4”, but their teeth almost stop growing. The pins to their tail get more solid and the child gains full control over the tail. In this year, the Hvetshran also learns how to walk, but keeps their ability to move on all four limbs. They become able to control their vowels and several consonants very well. They copy random words in their environment without knowing the meaning. They understand simple commands. The children mostly eat what they get fed, but also sometimes catch bugs and insects to eat them if their parents are not around to give them something. In their fourth year, their growing speed remains consistent and their tail can reach up to 1’5”. Hvetshrans of the age of four sharpen not only teeth and claws, but also their tail pins with solid objects, since their mother starts to teach them how to hunt now. They catch little animals (squirrels, mice) and sea animals (shrimps, crabs). They gain more control over their speech as well. They start using real words and sentences up to two or three words in length. They speak in third person, calling themselves by their own name, and understand short simple sentences (no compound sentences). Their evolution continues similarly in their fifth year. Their growing speed is still similar to a human and their tail grows up to 1’7”. The little Hvetshran continue to sharpen their natural weapons on solid objects. They understand longer sentences and compound sentences and can make sentences up to six or seven words in length by themselves. They have control over about all sounds humans make. They manage to hunt for and catch bigger animals such as small deer, rabbits, chicken and even sheep. At the end of their childhood, when their parents find them fit, they build them a separate place for living. From then on, they are regarded as adults and need to continue their life while continuing to learn by themselves. Childhood (5 to 13 years old) The separate living place their parents build for them depends on the geography. If the Hvetshran clan lives in plain, or in spacious area in general, they build a primitive hut. When they live in a cage, they just mark borders to what is their part of the entire clan’s home. As soon as the little demon gets such a place from their parents, they are regarded as an adult. The clan still protects them and they have to go hunt in teams with the full-grown demons. As Hvetshran often hunt in team, usually with each individual with their own specific role, they are easily able to hunt for bigger animals and entire herds or packs. They are not afraid of going after bigger animals (bears, wolves, deer, cows) or even humans and stronger creatures. The bigger the clan is, the bigger the prey they can hunt down. The clan leader decided what target they take, depending on the observations of the other Hvetshran. Younger demons, that are not physically full-grown, do not get jobs with risks such as explorer, tracker and certainly not that of leader. They mainly have to improve their combat skills (attacking, running) and follow orders. Young Hvetshran's growth rate is still similar to that of a human's, growing up to five feet by age thirteen. Their tail becomes almost as long their body, remaining at four feet. They switch to their adult teeth between age ten and twelve, getting new ones that grow from 0.5” to even 2” for the longest. This makes them only slightly more vulnerable than they were, as their claws and tail pins are very strong at this age. At about age nine or ten, the demon child gets full control over their skin, that can change from human to black scaled depending on their mood. At most point, young demons use growling and body expression for communication, combined with rough syllables and sounds. Human language, copied from local inhabitants and mostly dialectic, is only used for official purposes. Especially in the beginning of their childhood, they seldom get chance to learn it. Hvetshran children are left out tribal meetings, strategic planning of hunt, and so on. Official rules and their part of the hunt gets told by them in a human language. Their parents or older siblings help them understand when they do not get it. If Hvetshran are living in a society by this age, they obviously know human language. However, even though their own language is not used, it remains present in their instincts and unconscious mind. Puberty (13 to 17 years old) At the age of thirteen, a new stage in their personal evolution begins: their puberty. Hvetshran teenagers nearly stop growing at this age, over their entire body (tail, length, teeth). Their tail falls off in the beginning of the spring at about this age, indicating their new level of maturity. This tail will grow back in a few weeks, so their hunting ability is not heavily affected. On the other hand, when the Hvetshran is living in urban area at this age or amongst humans most of the time, their tail will not grow back unless they continue hunting regularly. Apart from the start of the regrowth of their tail, there is another reason why this age is the start of Hvetshran puberty. Due to enormous mental and sexual development, starting at the age of thirteen and ending at age sixteen or seventeen, they stop growing. Their full body pauses, stopping the growth of their length, tail and teeth for the most part. The body and tail growth during these four years is only five or six centimetres (two inches) at most, the growth of their teeth and fangs is not even noticeable. Hvetshran puberty is the period when they get taken back into their old family or when they get protected by their clan. Individuals that moved to urban environment before this time, go through a tough time at this age, since they have no adults around to help them out. This is one of the reasons why parents try to send their children away from home either at age seven to nine, or only around age seventeen or eighteen, when it is sure they are no longer in their puberty. Adolescence (16 to 19 years) After Hvetshran puberty, they start with their last growing sprint. From one to another, this age varies somewhat about sixteen and seventeen years old. Usually over a span of a couple of months, they regain most of their prior strength, but at the same time keep the mental and endurance capacities they have built up over the span of their puberty. Their complex, strategical and emotional development only requires further maturation now, which happens at the same time their muscle size and body length starts to shape towards adult Hvetshran proportions. Body length increase already starts a couple of months before the Hvetshran enters adolescence, but over the span of three years, their body grows easily up to 2m (6'6") and their tail up to 1m80 (6'0"). This means an average growth of about 10cm (4in.) per year. Adulthood When a Hvetshran is about twenty or twenty-one years old, he or she has a fully matured body, that will stay mostly the same for the next couple of decades. Category:WIP Category:Basics